Ding Junhui defeated John Higgins 10-8 to win the Pukka Pies UK Snooker Championship for the second time at the Telford International Centre.
The players were neck and neck at seven frames apiece before Ding managed to pull away, going one ahead with a 75-break and taking the next to get within a frame of victory.
A smooth 115 break from Higgins halted Ding's progress but he took a decisive lead in the last frame and despite securing one snooker could not reel in the Chinese player, who held on to win the title for the second time with a long red and closed out the match.
The Chinese star claimed the €100,000 first prize and became the most successful Asian player in winning his fourth ranking event, surpassing the three titles achieved by Thailand's James Wattana.
Ding has also followed in the footsteps of Steve Davis, Stephen Hendry, Mark Williams, Doug Mountjoy, Ronnie O'Sullivan and Higgins in securing the UK title for the second time.
It was his first ranking success since winning the 2006 Northern Ireland Trophy and enabled him to bury the memory of his crushing 10-3 setback by Ronnie O'Sullivan in the 2007 Masters final.
